The invention is based on a control system for the electric fuel pump of an internal combustion engine From DE-PS 1 526 504, a circuit arrangement for driving a fuel pump in an internal combustion engine is known, in which below a minimum engine speed, the supply of electricity to the fuel pump is cut off. The circuit arrangement described there is based on the concept that, when the ignition is switched on, the engine speed drops below minimum values only when the engine is braked by external intervention, especially in the case of an accident. In this case, for reasons of safety, the supply of fuel from the tank in the direction towards the engine should be interrupted. Furthermore, in the German Published Patent Applications 20 65 928 and 22 49 235, devices are described which, for the same aforementioned reasons, interrupt the supply of fuel to the engine when it is stopped. There, this standstill of the engine is detected via an appropriate detection of the air flow in the induction manifold, in that in the idle position of the air flow meter flaps in the intake pipe, a switch is activated accordingly, and that depending on this switch activation, the electricity supply to the electrically driven fuel pump is then also interrupted. Naturally, for the case of start-up, suitable measures must be taken, in order to deactivate this safety function, especially at the beginning of start-up.
It has now been shown that with the conventional safety cut-out of the electrical fuel pump in internal combustion engines, possibilities of errors can arise which lead to unwarranted triggering of this safety cut-out.